Two phase Taylor-Couette flow is an intriguing and largely unexplored flow pattern with significant practical applications including for biotechnology as an algal photobioreactor. Problems that need to be resolved in order to optimize such a device include developing better understandings of the flow patterns, radiation transport, and transport of carbon dioxide and oxygen to and from microorganisms. Recently, a comprehensive computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model accounting for all of these factors has been developed but not fully validated by experimental data. In this work, contributions were made to experiments designed to better understand fluid flow patterns and in the analysis of experimental data that could be used to validate this model. Reasonably good predictions were made by this comprehensive model.